John Wick Had a Surprisingly Low Kill Count in the Original Script
In 2014, the first John Wick movie came out, and it was an instant classic. Starring Keanu Reeves as John Wick, two sequels quickly followed. The movies have become iconic for their bloody body counts and action scenes. But it seems the first movie in the franchise was pretty tame when it comes to how many people died.
The creation of ‘John Wick’
The story of John Wick started on a sad note, and it has gone down from there. As Smash Cut Reviews explains, the first movie opened with the death of John’s wife. Before she died from a terminal illness, she gave him a puppy named Daisy.
John later had an encounter with a group of young Russian aspiring mobsters. They asked to buy his car, a ’69 Boss Mustang. When he said no, they didn’t take it well. They broke into his house, beat him up, and stole his car. But worst of all, they killed his beloved Daisy.
They didn’t realize that John wasn’t just any guy with a cool car. He’s a retired assassin, and he’s very good at what he does. Now they made him mad.
The original ‘John Wick’ script was much less bloody
The John Wick movies are famous for how violent they are. But according to Digital Spy, the first movie wasn’t supposed to be nearly as much of a bloodbath as it was. The original script only had three characters die, and two lost their lives in a car crash. Yet, roughly 80 people didn’t make it in the final movie.
According to Chad Stahelski, who co-directed the first John Wick movie, and the next three on his own, the high body count is partly because of his vision about how he wanted to create “a surreal action movie.”
“People joke about [the kill count], but the way I choreograph with my guys and stuff, we just choreograph motion and set pieces, and we try to get this balletic kind of dance, live performance feel to everything,” he explained.
Apparently, Reeves was happy to focus on the physical work of the role. He even wanted to have less dialogue for his character, so he could dig into who John Wick is.
What we know about the fourth ‘John Wick’
The third John Wick installment came out in 2019, so fans have been waiting for years for the next movie. But according to Rotten Tomatoes, the wait is almost over. John Wick: Chapter 4 will premiere on March 24. It looks like it will bring all the intrigue and action of the first three movies.
It has the longest run time of any movie, roughly 150 minutes. Reportedly, John has discovered a way to defeat the High Table, but first, he has to confront a new enemy. But Stahelski says that if fans hope John will be able to relax and find some joy are going to be disappointed.
“John may survive all this s–t, but at the end of it, there’s no happy ending,” he said. “Do you think he’s going to ride off into the f–king sunset? He’s killed 300 f–king people and he’s just going to [walk away], everything’s OK?”
Unfortunately for John Wick, he’s definitely killed more than a few people. As Stahelski points out, that must have affected him and his future. We can all agree that they should have left his dog alone.
